Time To Keep It Simple serves as a record of my life as a traveler, writer, genealogist, photographer, target sports enthusiast, Rotarian, Mason, Jew, PR professional, and many other (mostly positive) things. In addition to this daily blog I am also the man behind the curtain (not named Oz) at gettingyourphil.blogspot.com and I previously blogged at fromgoytooleh.blogspot.com.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Mortgage Monday: An Extra Day To Assess

Well,
our next mortgage payment was delayed by an extra day as we have a bonus 24
hours this month. While usually not something to write about the warm weather
lately has made this extra time particularly enjoyable especially with nearly
all of the remaining snow melting in the spring like air. As the white lines
have receded I have been noticing the work that has yet to be done on the
property as well as the yard chores that I failed to complete before the
bitterness of the winter season took hold.

Walking
around the driveway I can see that the retaining wall is a little more
deteriorated than I originally realized but it is still holding back the earth.
Thankfully, we have some time before the rotting railroad ties are going to
have to be replaced. Good thing I know a stone mason living next door. Of
course, the leaves wedged against the base of the wall are not helping the
situation. As soon as the weather turns toward the regularity of spring I am
going to have to do some significant clearing.

That
clearing doesn’t just apply to the base of the wall as the flower beds and much
of the lawn still has a health covering of foliage. While we already have a
rake I am going to have to pick up the lawnmower attachment and switch out the
snow blower. With all these things that need to be done in the near future I
kind of wish that we could put this extra day in the bank and use it for when
we need it especially if we could do so to extend a weekend.

However,
some of the good things that I have definitely noticed during this extra time
is that even with all the snow piled by the wind against the house, the
basement has remained dry. Noisy with the boiler switching on and off all day
and night by dry nevertheless. With that said, there are a few spots that also
need to be addressed on the subterranean level as the sealant is showing signs
of age in spots and a fresh coating should be applied before the monsoons of
spring.

There
are always projects that will need to be done… we accepted this fact when we
decided to become home owners and at least there are many items that aren’t
dire and that can wait a little while for when we have the time. Heck, they are
probably going to be taken care of when we have all the optional work done on
the house. Now that list is one that is growing much faster than that of the
mandatory fixes.